Pickup truck cargo areas, specifically the pickup truck bed, provide a convenient and utilitarian means of transporting large cargo. The user need simply place any desired items in the truck bed, close the liftgate, and transport the items. However, items placed in the pickup truck bed are exposed to the elements, and may be damaged by moisture (rain, snow, etc.) or displaced by wind forces created by the vehicle speed during transport. Often users tie a tarpaulin over items placed in a pickup truck bed to protect them from the elements and to hide them from view. A disadvantage to this solution is that if not properly secured, the tarpaulin can work loose due to wind forces. Tying a tarpaulin down over a load placed in a pickup truck bed is inconvenient and unattractive, and ropes or bungee cords used to secure the tarpaulin risk damaging vehicle paint.
One known alternative solution is to provide a tonneau cover for covering the pickup truck bed cargo area. A number of hard and soft embodiments of tonneau covers for pickup truck beds are known, including hard tonneau covers that are hinged at one end and effectively function similarly to an automobile trunk. It is also known to provide soft tonneau covers, i.e. tonneau covers made of flexible materials and configured to deploy by unfolding, unrolling, etc. to cover the pickup truck bed. Such soft tonneau covers may be deployed manually or by motorized means. While effective in hiding pickup bed contents from view and protecting them from the elements, tonneau covers typically are disposed substantially flush with the upper edges of the pickup truck bed sides and the liftgate. As such, covering items that extend over a top of those pickup truck bed side/liftgate upper edges is difficult or impossible.
For that reason, it is known to provide aftermarket truck bed caps which are defined by side edges and a top, and which provide coverage of an area that may extend upwardly from the truck bed to a plane defined by a pickup truck passenger compartment roof, or even higher. Such aftermarket pickup truck bed caps, while effective for their intended purpose, are typically heavy and cumbersome to install and remove.
To solve this and other problems, the present disclosure relates to deployable pickup truck bed cap. Advantageously, the described deployable pickup truck bed cap is flexible and lightweight, and is easily deployed for use in covering items but retracted when covering the pickup truck bed is not desired.